Believe it or not, this is the third anniversary of Rock the Cradle! Over these quarter-million words, we've covered more than six years of Keras' life, managed three advancements, and seen Keras find both opportunity and danger. We're getting close to a major story climax, but the details are yet to fully crystalize for Keras. However, I like to commission a little bit of character art as we get to milestones like this, so:
Happy third Anniversary it's been an awesome journey. Keras has gone through a lot in the last six years in terms of advancement, learning skills and character development. Looking forward to seeing the upcoming major story climax, I can feel it building up and I keep on getting more and more hyped.
A depiction of the exhibition match between Lord Ju Dao of the Brightflare School and the Lady of the Night Sky of the Luxe family, courtesy of Renu:
(see more of their art on Tumblr or here on SV; I know they commented recently about having an empty commission queue)
And a depiction of our gay dragon schoolteacher Thantiriiz, by Moiderah:
(see more of their art on Bluesky or Tumblr, whom I tend to comm when I have a kind of weird art request like this one)
There's really one option that stands out to you. You don't feel like you can do nothing, and there's one person in the city who knows and trusts your spiritual sense, at least somewhat. The Lady of the Night Sky tested that. It may or may not have been the main reason she employed you as a courier, but it certainly was a part of it. She knows you took in the Remnant of one of her oracles, since she's commented on it.
With Cheng out of the city, she's unquestionably the strongest single sacred artist in Great Crevasse, and she has a personal stake in dealing with someone who attacked her people. "We need to move quickly, partner," you tell Beti as you hop down from your usual perch in her boughs to get the atrium open.
She creaks in reply, a willingness to follow your lead. Once you've locked up Cheng's mansion behind you, she sweeps you off your feet to set you in her branches and sets off full-tilt towards the Luxe-mesa elevators.
Beti usually prefers a gentle amble that's still the pace of a decent jog for you, but that doesn't mean that that's as fast as she can go. It means that that's a comfortable pace she can keep up for long distances while still watching everything around her. Her pace now would be a full sprint for you: she is Truegold, so she is faster. Lowgolds and even the occasional Highgold duck out of the way or pull to one side when they realize that the ambulatory tree is not particularly interested in joining the usual flow of traffic, and you make it to the elevator banks in record time.
"Out of the question." That's technically a slight improvement from 'no', you guess, but she's not looking particularly worried about Beti despite being only Highgold herself, and it's clear that this isn't something she's going to bend on. "Put a respectful request in with her aides and maybe she will see you sometime in the next three months." You don't need your spiritual sense to understand 'and you'll be blown off if I have anything to say about it'.
Your breath stops for an instant and you uncontrollably fall to your knees. The pressure doesn't let up. The flagstones you're on crack with the weight of a Lady's focused attention and displeasure. You tremble, trying and failing to hold yourself up with all the strength in all six of your limbs. You fail, and your jaw hits the ground. Pain blossoms from a split chin.
Beti tries to wrap her branches and vines protectively around you, but fails. Black strings seize each of them and pull them back, Forged from the Luxe matriarch's madra.
And then she's there, in front of you. There's anger, but there's also the clockwork behind it, the constant assessment of functions and results that her clan is expected to meet. Hard eyes glare at you, but she lessens the pressure just enough for you to pick yourself up. You know, implicitly, the danger if she is not immediately satisfied by why you have interrupted her. She says only one word: "Explain."
You need two seconds to suck in enough air to speak. "Underlady, I have seen a vision of the person who attacked your peacekeepers the day of the elevator collapse. I know where they will be for at least a few minutes more. One of Cheng's assistants was investigating something that's pulled the attacker out."
"Where?" You quickly give the address in the Remnant Market. The Underlady's look is no less hostile, but at least it slides off of you at that point. She snaps her fingers, and the aide who always gave you the Grand Duchess' directions before rushes up. "Retrieve my war equipment," she says. "Bring it here. Then, get Priyanka and Javed. They are to join me at this establishment immediately. All other family Truegolds in the city are to be placed on full alert." One goldsteel-shod finger stabs at you. "The child stays here."
The guard who stopped you is kneeling, as well. "Lady, I apologize that I did not know you would—"
The Underlady's grunt cuts off the apology. "You followed the letter and spirit of my directions."
Reminder that Farzana for all that she's a reasonable and pratical Tyrant is still a Tyrant. She was totally okay with aura crushing Keras which is pretty messed up but she's also pratical enough to get answers first and then make sure Keras was secured before gearing up. Farzana is still a horrible person but she's honestly not one of the worst people around, she isn't senselessly cruel or prone to letting her emotions get the better of her.
Farzana isn't a good person and doesn't care about Keras on a personal level or pretty much anyone on that level. But she's a stone cold political mover and shaker and Keras is an asset to her and those need to be maintained and cultivated. In terms of patrons Keras could do a lot worse, but I'm not comfortable with her being Keras'ss sole patron since Keras needs leverage to not be a full on tool to her. I'm very happy that Keras is placed under Cheng which prevents a lot of the more blatant stuff Farzana could do.
There is a shriek of overstressed metal and the door opens. Fendi and Remelyn both turn to look as someone half-dead almost staggers in, dragging something. Their visitor didn't bother to knock or try to open the lock. The door just gave way. "Oh, oh, sorry for the mess." Nearly bald, skeletally thin, the newcomer pauses a second to cough, but their voice is equally soft before and after the cough. "Something the matter?"
Remelyn watches as Fendi tries to sort this out: there's no flicker of recognition, so this isn't Fendi's usual contact. That's a good sign, indicating that the alert went high, to trusted ears. "Welcome to Daurus and Son's. I realize you may be lookin' for—"
"Yes, yes, stars below and all that. Did you know this was a set-up?"
"What?" Fendi is halfway out of his seat, glancing between Remelyn and the newcomer. "I assure you, I'm just a—"
"—A loyal servant of the crown, yes, yes, yes." The visitor throws the thing they'd been dragging into the middle of the floor. Remelyn is glad of her Goldsign's ability to suppress certain responses as she realizes what it is.
It's the body of a woman in the king's colors. Lyn realizes that she can see another ruin of a body in the street. That would be the flying serpent itself. "Four watchers. I cleaned them up."
Remelyn had only had three watchers. The other either must have noticed something was up and kept their eyes open in case there was something going on that might be worth looking into, or they'd just been a wholly unconnected bystander who just happened to look suspicious.
Looks like the assassin figured out that something was going on. Also the 4th person is concerning but also shows the whole uncertaintiy of things very well.
The newcomer nods amiably, then suddenly swipes in Remelyn's direction. A Striker technique lashes out, breaking on a circular shield of force that appears in front of her. "I know, I know all the people above Lowgold we have," they whisper. "She's not with us."
Remelyn throws wide her outermost robe. Beneath it, constructs: a defensive piece that is already whining after deflecting just one Striker move. Communication and recording constructs are cunningly worked in, the better to be hard to notice. What she retrieves is the size of a small apple, and she throws it at the attacker's feet.
They do their best to avoid it, but aren't quick enough. Forged chains of earth and binding banks of thick cloud madra try to smother the killer. "Expensive, expensive toys. But forgive this lowly one. Bonds meant for a tiger will never hold a worm."
A vague apparition seems to embrace and surmount the killer: a skeleton, its bones thickened to serve as overlaid armor. It appears to be an Enforcer/Forger technique, and when it springs forth, the construct meant to lock down a Truegold for hours lasts for less than fifteen seconds as clouds thin and stone chains crumble.
She has more of a chance to see what the Striker technique is, this time. It's shaped like a screaming skull. The shield construct on her hip cracks in two, and the technique hits her hard enough to throw her into the wall. She barely notices the impact: all attention she still has is on her body, trying to fight off an attack that is still trying to kill her.
Fendi is less fortunate. He probably does not even realize that he's been attacked when he dies. This killer has no desire to leave behind dangerous loose ends.
The Assassin is very ruthless and this was shown really well. Keras is getting to see what a killer looks like and how they operate which while pretty traumatic will likely be good for their development as a Death Artist.
The Underlady doesn't do anything so crass as announce herself. The first sign she gives the killer is a javelin of light hurled at the back. They twist at the last possible moment, slamming a fist overlaid by a skeleton hand into the Striker technique. The radiant bolt is barely slowed or deflected. It brushes past the killer's sunken chest, and flecks of madra open tiny cuts all over their body. Most of it sails past, where it strikes the back of the shop and explodes with enough power to shatter half the building.
Farzana steps off her cloud at that point, falling the last dozen feet to the street, a Ruler technique bringing clinging darkness to the establishment, limiting visibility. A cloak lies across her shoulders, woven tight with scripts of protection and concealment. In her hands, she holds a pair of straight swords, one shining white and one a deep black.
Since the killer has survived, she speaks. "Lay fully prostrate on the ground and still your madra." There is no offer of clemency for obedience, nor a threat for defiance. It is only a bald command, for she is the Underlady.
Damn that was cold, respect to Farzana for just jumping them and demanding they should stand down. Also you can tell that Farzana has some really good gear.
The killer throws themself into a perfect kowtow, forehead almost on the ground as they grovel in the darkening twilight. "Forgive, forgive this least one, kind Underlady."
A pause, only for an instant, as Grand Duchess Farzana processes if this qualifies as compliance, and then she leaps aside as the ground under her feet dissolves into a sinkhole.
It was a Destruction-aspected Ruler technique, projected through the ground to try to make her lose her footing, but she sensed it just in time. The killer is up again, swiping a hand to launch another screaming skull at her, but her technique is faster, faster in the way that only light can be. The skull misses, but her javelin of madra strikes the killer square.
With a grunt of effort, the killer blocks the impact with both hands, and weathers the incandescent explosion that briefly brightens the artificial night. Shaking, they look up as that temporary star fades again, and have to dive to the side to avoid a sword through the eye.
Still, it was a near miss. Near enough. The Underlady's left hand seizes up, and the black blade falls from numb fingers as the killer's armor of Forged death strikes back.
Hissing, they leap for her, long bony fingers curled into claws, and the little Lady engages a movement technique, taking her well clear, though the edges of Destruction rend gashes in her cloak.
"Dear me, dear me," the killer says, panting, looking in her direction through the darkness. She's only a few dozen feet away, but still hard to see directly. "I thought... you'd be too proud to flee from me. A terror you are, a terror."
"You can weave soulfire." It's not a question. A Truegold who lacked that skill would have crumbled the first time she landed a blow, though it is also apparent they cannot use it properly.
"I can, I can. But this mewling one has not yet learned the greater secrets. If I am to be a Lord myself..." They stare at her frankly. "I expect I can learn the knowing from your Remnant."
But the killer is not free to keep attacking. Both of them had used their brief exchange of words not as a reprieve, but a chance to ready attacks. The black blade also rises under its own power, then spears for the killer. They don't notice for a crucial instant, then instinctively try to block the attack with their right hand.
The hand comes off, halfway between elbow and wrist. The Enforcer technique corrodes the weapon even as it flies, but it almost pierces the Truegold's eye before the weapon crumbles. They barely notice, clawing for their missing arm with their left hand. They howl, but even this is little more than a whisper. "My... my haaand."
"Lay fully prostrate on the ground and still your madra."
Disbelieving, the killer's wide, bloodshot eyes go to the Grand Duchess, who is approaching again. Wounded, her equipment obliterated, and still alone, she nonetheless is unshaken, and it is now apparent the killer is getting the worse of their exchanges. Madra and soulfire still surge in her as she readies her next series of attacks, points of starlight glittering bright in the vast darkness. Only instant obedience might be fast enough to allow her to abort her blow.
It wobbles, it comes apart, but it blazes with power as it does, and it catches the Underlady's right foot. She grunts in pain as death and destruction wash over her limb.
Another luminous javelin hits the killer, and it sends them flying. Trembling, the Enforcer technique failing at last, they pick themself out of the wreckage they hit, not noticing or caring what it had been before, panting, bleeding, weak.
Panting... too much, they realize. Through one of the now-numerous holes in the wall, under cover of the midnight lighting the Underlady has cloaked the battlefield in, the killer spies the script circle of Forged shadow madra the Duchess had laid before attacking. It's a complex script, commanding the power of air, demanding it weaken, thin, deliver nothing to breathe.
Groggy, the killer shakes their head. This might have gone the other way if they could do the ambushing, but today the Lady of the Night Sky had left nothing to chance. She had not trusted to advancement alone and attacked arrogantly: she had prepared the battlefield so she could not lose. The hidden script had ensured that, no matter what, the killer would have eventually choked, while soulfire control meant that the Lady would not be so inconvenienced. Clutching at numerous injuries as best they can, they call one more skull, this last bit of power disrupting the delicate balance of the temporary script circle.
As clean air finally pours in, they take a deep, gasping breath... and sense more light and shadow power behind them. They don't turn to look, they just flee, blindly, into the depths of the city.
Surely the Lady's injuries will prevent her from following. Surely.
You sigh, looking around. There's a lot of people here, now. You and Beti were herded into a secure conference room thing, along with Mireya, while the Underlady and her Truegolds went off to fight. Javed and Priyanka got there only a few minutes after the Duchess, but the fight was already over as they arrived. There was just the Lady of the Night Sky, standing there. She hadn't had much choice: one leg couldn't support her weight. By either happenstance or intent, Remelyn had survived, and both of them had been rushed to the Bronze Serpent place for urgent healing.
Most people don't have an Etaja to tell them what's going on, though, so the conference room has become a nerve center, with Luxe officers of various ranks and advancement all ferociously arguing with each other about what's going on, what to expect, and what they need to do. Various scouts and couriers come and go. There are movements across the city as various Brightflare agents make strikes of opportunity against the Luxe. Nothing major, as far as inter-sect struggles go, but a few businesses and warehouses have had a sudden change of management. There was a concern that some broader riot could break out when word of the Underlady being hurt got out, but that, at least, doesn't seem to be happening.
Lacking information and having various personalities makes it so things can get chaotic. And it's not to surprising that the Brightflares took advantage of things. Also keeping Vekenta's injury under wraps makes sense given if it got out people would pounce on it and chaos would occur.
Mireya has sat next to you for most of it. No one is too worried about you right now, because you're kids, but it's getting to Mireya. She started by projecting a cool calm, but as word has gotten back through normal channels, she's not quite holding it together. Her upper lip is quivering, and the feathers of light on her wings shudder slightly, now and then.
When you come out of your own funk enough to notice, you turn to her. "Miss Mireya? Give me your hands." A little uncertain, she complies. "Follow me," you say, and use an exaggerated example and a little squeezing of her hand to prompt her. "Breathe in, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four. Breathe out, two, three, four. Hold, two three, four. In, two, three, four."
After a couple cycles, she's visibly more in control of herself. "I know a little about how scary this can be," you tell her, quietly, while the adults all continue their complex dance for prestige and power and money all throughout the city. "My dad was the strongest sacred artist I knew for years, and I had to see him hurt, too, without knowing how it would turn out."
"Thank you," she says. "I will be fine. My honored mother has many contingencies, and some of them she has shared with me. I will serve her will, and the Luxe will continue to thrive." She glances to one side for an instant, checking if anyone is paying attention to you two, then says, in a quieter tone, "But... thank you. All the time, everyone needs me to be the perfect daughter. Everyone else."
She's not allowed to show vulnerability, to show weakness. The Luxe need her to be the perfect scion, the servants see only a noble's child, their rivals need to see calm power... Mireya is often lonely, but today she is a little less so, because you're here.
And so, just for a second, she gives you a small, friendly smile, and she looks so like Venkata for that moment, both of them with a good soul that gets buried too much of the time under a necessary presentation and a belief that they have to claw for every advantage they may ever have the opportunity for.
Moments like this really shows who Keras is as a person, they're very empathetic and caring and they where able to use their experience with what happened to their father to help Mireya process things and support her. Keras also has a good understanding of what Mireya is going through and has to deal with in the day to day and in general. I think this is the first time Mireya can truly count someone as a friend which is sad but it's good that Keras can be that for her.
It's not up for debates as far as he is concerned. "Okay," you say. "Can someone feed Beti while I do that, then?"
"Feed?"
"Truegold sacred beast meat, if you have any. Highgold, if you don't. She technically belongs to Underlord Cheng, and he's been making good use of her."
Javed looks like this is one more issue he doesn't want to deal with today, but he doesn't complain.
Erusine beckons you close with a toss of her head, so you approach the three of them. The Underlady speaks first. "I found an unusually potent Truegold. They escaped me. Do you have any other useful information about who they are or where they have gone?"
You shake your head. "I don't think so. My... today's vision showed me an underground thing they were in, and I know they flew away east. I don't think I could do anything to track them. I don't know anything else."
The Underlady grunts. "My daughter should have forced you to learn proper oracular methods. Be that as it may, confirmation they fled the city is still of some use. If you ever interrupt me again like you did today, it must be both this urgent and this important to my interests. Do you understand?"
The "visions" that Keras has is very useful and while Vekenta is to much of a bitch to say thank you or show appreciation she's very aware of how useful Keras has been.
The Underlady grunts again. When she opens her mouth to say something else, Erusine clicks her tongue once, and even the Underlady subsides in the face of a healer doing her work. Erusine looks at you. "The attacker's madra is still in the Underlady's spirit, and that of the other woman." That means Remelyn. "It is death and destruction madra Forged tightly together. In order to get it out, I will need help from both of you." For that, her gaze shifts to the squirming Luxe man. "I would be surprised if there are even a hundred people in Great Crevasse that use death madra. I would not be surprised if it is fewer than a dozen. You are here because there are no alteratives, Keras, although this is no task for a Lowgold. Destruction madra is not as rare, but Keras at least has been trained in healing techniques and I have never yet met a healer who uses destruction. Siddiq, that means you are the weakest link, here. I will lance the foreign technique with my own power, and then both of you are to draw the relevant portion of loose madra out to vent. The Underlady's potent spirit will assist us."
When Erusine gets a round of nods, you feel her spirit stir afresh, and cast your own senses into the Lady of the Night Sky's body, and sense her allowing your intrusion. At three points in her, you can sense tiny, squirming nuggets of immense power, the same as you felt when you saw the victims after the elevator attack, but far more potent. Nonetheless, when Erusine's Ruler technique seizes and lances the first one, it unravels. It changes from a technique that is trying to hurt to... shapeless power, no longer effectively striking at the person it is in. You sense Siddiq doing his best to gather up and siphon away the destruction, and your own technique gathers the death. It's a strange, delicate task, partway between normal healing and drawing in external madra for your cycling, but you do it.
A cold, empty power feels like it fills your madra channels. A reckless part of your mind considers trying to actually cycle it, to take this foreign madra in and make it your own, but the rational side evaluates that you can't and that it would be a bad idea. This isn't loose, undifferentiated aura: it's the specific path and power of someone else's spirit, so it wouldn't respond to your usual cycling and you have no idea how to change that. Even if you succeeded, you might draw in... more of the wielder than you would like. You don't want to be death embodied, not like that person is.
A second technique is broken up, and again you draw a chilling, awful power out of the Underlady. Your teeth are chattering and your body shaking as the third breaks at Erusine's command, and you draw death away from the old woman.
You shiver as you come back to yourself, your channels full to bursting with foreign death madra. You need to vent it before it permanently warps your own spirit, but flooding the room with death would be counterproductive.
Luckily, the Bronze Serpents are prepared. There's a scripted container near you, set while you were in the healing trance. "Empty the power into these," Erusine says, and you realize Siddiq has one of his own. You comply, forcing the alien madra out of your body and into containing scripts. The container fills all the way, and the cap automatically closes and seals. Even that's not quite enough, but the remaining death madra you push out into the air to let dissipate. It's not as much, so it shouldn't be a problem: it's the difference between breathing only smoke or smelling a distant campfire. It still takes on the faint appearance of a screaming skull before it fades away. You shake your hands as the numbing feeling of this madra fades.
You see Siddiq shaking his head as he does the same for the other madra, his Highgold spirit better able to handle his portion than you were. The leftover power he can't fit in the container falls to the floor and eats away at a quarter-inch of bare rock before it is spent. "Leave the hazardous waste containers where they are," Erusine commands. "We'll gather them up once it's safe and dispose of them. Underlady, you still have a long healing process ahead of you, but it hopefully will not be complicated."
She grunts. "Even more than that, I need answers. Heal that assistant."
You repeat your process, slowly leaking the death madra into the air and getting a horrible, sustained wail from doing so, but even if it kind of hurts your ears, it won't do anything worse to anyone like this. Erusine gets an ugly granite statue about two feet tall for Siddiq to spill into. If anything, it feels like she's slightly relieved to have a justified reason to lose the tasteless statue.
Respect to Erusine for getting rid of shitty decor like this, I'm guessing it's a gift from someone that they can't really get rid of easily so this is convenient for her.
The Underlady, still receiving the ministrations of Erusine's familiars, is the first to speak. "You started quite a mess in my city," she says.
Lyn shrugs, staring blankly at the ceiling. "You were under suspicion until today," she says.
"I was, was I?" There's a sharp anger to the Lady of the Night Sky's response.
"You were." Lyn is unmoved by the anger. With a wince, she cycles her power, revealing... something?
There's a notch in Lyn's spirit, a signal of some sort that you don't recognize.
The Lady does, it seems. "That isn't easy to forge. So you're with the King's Own Eyes. Haven't I proven my loyalty enough over the decades?"
Lyn stops cycling. "My duty to the king is to run down all the possibilities. Someone has struck at promising Highgolds and Truegolds in the Luxe, Rao, and Seppelin families, as well as the Bloody Bayou sect. The Luxe's scion survived it, and then advanced. How better to allay suspicion? But it's clear you weren't part of it. Even if you almost asphyxiated me."
"This is my city." And, implicitly, that means she can do what she wants with it. Even choking Lyn as she does.
"And you hadn't yet managed to run down the assassins who attacked your daughter, nor had the others done the same for their attackers. The king is not blind to the threat to his loyal servants, and set people like me to try to gather information or infiltrate any local organization behind it. From various pieces of evidence, Great Crevasse seems like the epicenter of the conspiracy. I just hadn't gotten more than one level of their main recognition code until yesterday."
So Venkata surviving placed the Luxe under suspicion. Also Lyn is salty about the Script choking her and Farzana was completely unapologetic about it which is something.
Also oh shit Lyn really milked Keras for a lot of information.
All this is immensely confusing for you. You can understand most of the outline of things: Remelyn's with a secret police sort of group. You haven't heard of the King's Own Eyes before, but even without knowing the name, that's clear enough. Looking like the Winter's Blade—whether she's actually from them or not—is a cover that makes her a more potentially appealing target to recruit, and to be perceived as less likely to be part of the king's loyalist forces. She was investigating Risshon, but hadn't gotten deep enough into the conspiracy to act until you gave her an opening; she strongly suspected Risshon, but did not have enough to go on. Meanwhile, the Underlady probably had even less, so she couldn't know where to start.
And you just got swept up in it.
For the first time today, you see a little bending of the Lady of the Night Sky's normally inflexible projection of power and control. She actually slumps slightly where she sits. "If you can help me settle the score with all the people who dared try to kill my favored daughter, then the resources of the Luxe are yours to pursue that trail."
Lyn continues lying where she is, staring up at the ceiling. "You have my word, Underlady. We will get them all."
You think they've mostly forgotten you and Siddiq are here at all as they talked.
The King's Own Eyes being a secret police fits given the name. Also the Winter Blade is a good cover all things considered. Keras getting a good understanding of how things is going matter, man Lyn really didn't know a lot and Farzana knew less.
Risshon is the other known major member of the conspiracy. He will shortly be apprehended. However, he will have a talk with Keras, colored significantly by how things changed with Keras' new understanding. It will be a talk that Keras learns from and takes thoughts away from.
I'd rather not have to maneuver around Cheng in the Before option, especially since it seems likely that we'd be doing so specifically as a distraction to catch Risshon and so in the Underlord's perspective would tie us even further to the clusterfuck that just disrupted his highly-trusted assistants midway through his masterpiece.
Of the remaining options, I could honestly go either way; but I feel like finding him in the middle of his desperate escape has the most potential - there's no way that we'd be able to outright stop him, sure, but neither would he be able to casually brush past us when we've got Beti backing us up. The mindset he'd be in at that point would be interesting to see for a better look into his character, since up until now he's been almost completely composed, and either his actions or words might let slip some very juicy information about his goals or opinions that he wouldn't have released with more control of the situation. I'm also interested in what Keras would be thinking in that situation - sure, Risshon's part of a murderous conspiracy, but he's also been their main teacher and the friendliest face in Cheng's manor for years, and there are definitely hints that he's genuinely fond of us in turn. That's a potent mix of conflicting emotions ripe for the writing, especially when set in a situation like this where both participants are aware he's about to disappear offscreen for a long while and only return to try and do more damage to their life in Great Crevasse.
Thanks for the chapter, and happy three years of RtC!
I wonder how Gardenia is going to feel about this? On one hand, we kinda blew up her big break, she probably liked Risshon at least a little, and I suspect she would have been sympathetic to the conspiracy's goals. On the other, staying with him for longer might have implicated her in the conspiracy and made her an enemy of the entire Luxe clan, and the kingdom, and the brightflares.
This probably counts as repaying our favour, though.
Already posted my vote by re-reading the chapter: holy shit what's up with this freak? Killed multiple golds instantly without raising any alert, then survived an ambush from a position of strength by a Lord and seriously injured her in the process? They're a monster. I wonder whether their twisted behavior is a result of their path, or if they chose a path to match their twisted mind.
They're a specialist, they're basically the peak of True Gold, heavily specialized in killing for both their Death - Destruction stuff and for their skills and the main reason they're not an Underlord right now is because they haven't gotten their revaluation or learned to properly use Soulfire.
Damn, what a fight. Pretty sure this was the right call. Relying on Lyn definitely wasn't, this guy would've destroyed her. Ju Dao is probably a worse fighter that LotNS and despite the vote saying she'd get there late, seems to have made it there on time. Only possibility I can see is that Ju Dao might've been fast enough to set an ambush, or bring a few other Truegolds to back him up.
Eh...I don't think it is? This lost them a lot of manpower, and their strongest fighter has been weakened. But as long as they can get an assassin close enough to Kiro, they can still pull it off -- assuming they can get more poison.
The King will be on alert and raise security, but I don't think anybody knows Kiro specifically is a target.
The way I see it, the conspiracy attempting to assassinate the Prince is one of those big-ticket, arc-spanning, ever-decreasing "X until Y" Predictions that the Quest's been building up to for months; like our duel with Olerac or the incoming Dreadgod. We can change the circumstances around those events depending on how we vote, certainly - how much we know in advance, who we've befriended and to what degree, whether the antagonist's been given any advantages or disadvantages from their theoretical baseline, and a whole bunch of other stuff - but in some form or another, the event itself will occur.
It's one of the major events in the quest that's kinda fixed.
[X] After the arrest
This shows that Keras takes the initiative to see Risshon which is something I like. Being able to have an honest talk with Risshon while asking about their motives is good. I want to understand why Risshon is doing this and for Keras to understand it to. I think it'll be good for their development.
Huh, so it seems like if we'd gone with the Brightflare, he probably would have arrived in time to fight alongside the king's people and that probably could have made up for the lesser personal power he has. Sure, they didn't do much on their own but acting in support of a powerful sacred artist is a very different thing from getting bowled over by a hyper lethal dude on their own. Wouldn't have removed the suspicion from the Luxe though and the traitor in the Brightflare might have gotten involved and caused problems. Of course, revealing that traitor might have been nice.
Yeah it's not really Keras's job to stop the assassination, Keras's job is to have fun, learn and grow not stop political assassination they're not even really connected to directly. At this point Keras's one tie to the conspiracy has pretty much been cut through Risshon escaping.
You know I think we've all been assuming we want to stop it. Obviously Keras would, but do we as the players want to?
Kiro is a pretty nice dude, so just from that aspect I'd like him to survive. And he seems like he'd be a better king than both his father and brother.
But Kiro dying would be a pretty interesting divergence, albeit not a good one, I think. For one thing, I think Dakata will come down a lot harder on any tangential collaborators like Gardenia.
Kiro is decent by the standards of the setting and is much better then his brother which are factors that matter. If he does die then that'll have butterflies and likely flow down to effect a lot of people.
In the books, Kiro dies, so I'm not optimistic about his long term survival even if Keras stops the assassination attempt.
On the other-hand, if Kiro dies now, then Kiro and Meira don't almost kill Yerin. If Yerin and Lindon, don't get almost assassinated by the "nice" Underlord Kiro, and instead rampage through the Sheishen empire truegolds either in a counterattack or just fighting defensively, it's possible the Blackflame Empire manages to avoid getting pushed out of the aura rich valley. Which might allow Lindon and Yerin to advance sooner and be stronger than they are in the books.
Kiro going into the Uncrowned King tournament is still a huge risk to his life and at that point Keras is likely going to be somewhat responsbile for ensuring his safety as a member of the Sheishen Empire's Uncrowned King team.
I think that we should note that Yerin and Lindon are going to be doing well for themselves regardless of what happens due to having Eithan in their corner.
Keras needing to fight Lindon and Yerin is possible given they'll likley be a member of the Sheishen Empire's team. That's going to be an interesting fight and I'm hoping that they don't come out of it disliking each other to much.
See, we could discuss that, but I'm not sure that all but daring Meira to reach through the fourth wall and collectively strangle us after a grief fueled mega-ultra-hyper-ascension is the most productive use of our time? /s
More seriously, I mostly agree in that even though his early death could definitely be an interesting point of divergence to 'canon', it'd be hard to really make a failure of that magnitude satisfying to actually read about rather than just theorize about. Preventing that assassination's what we've been building towards for a long time now, and if it's just change for change's sake we already have changed / have been put in position to change a hell of a lot of canon without deliberately trying for it.
... Especially with that incoming Dreadgod Incident that we inadvertently kicked off by existing. That definitely seems like the kind of thing that's already poised to shake up previously-unassailable status quos, yeah?
Rescuing the prince's life and getting rewards for that and keeping canon on the rails would be very beneficial.
The Dreadgod is a much bigger deal then even Kiro's death because it's going to be giving Keras a look at the Apex of Cradle and is going to be a even bigger defining moment for them.
TBH Kiro's death is pretty easy to butterfly, IMO. Kiro only died because (a) he felt he couldn't surrender, as that might be going against Charity's orders and (b) Kiro happened to be the one fighting Lindon. A change in circumstances (like Harmony not dying) might result in Charity being a bit softer and clarifying Kiro can surrender. Or a swap of who's fighting who might result in Lindon killing Meira or Daji. Or if Lindon advances sooner, he might be able to safely defeat Kiro, instead of shooting him with a big gun.
Huh, so it seems like if we'd gone with the Brightflare, he probably would have arrived in time to fight alongside the king's people and that probably could have made up for the lesser personal power he has. Sure, they didn't do much on their own but acting in support of a powerful sacred artist is a very different thing from getting bowled over by a hyper lethal dude on their own. Wouldn't have removed the suspicion from the Luxe though and the traitor in the Brightflare might have gotten involved and caused problems. Of course, revealing that traitor might have been nice.
Yeah it's likely they'd have arrived at the same time which would make ganging up on the assassin possible. Revealing that traitor is something that would've hurt the conspiracy more. Removing the Luxe from suspicion is the ultimate victory of the vote though.
I can understand why someone would want to kill Kiro's father, dude is a giant might-makes-right monster, but as far as I know, Kiro's never done anything. Other than support his monstrous father. Not that I object to dead Princes on principal, but I want to know what Risshon's motive is.
Something I'd like to note is that Enohel the Assassin is an absolute unit and terror. So be clear they're pretty much able to take out most Underlords due to being hyper specialized in killing both for their path and for skillset. They're also the peak of Truegold path in the sense of stats and for the ability to wield Soulfire.
While Keras had decided they don't want to be like Enohel I think that taking some inspiration from them is a good thing given how impressive they are. They fought Farzana who's basically amongst the strongest Underlords in the Empire to a draw and that was even after they already where fighting during that day and Farzana got the jump on them.
Enohel is an extremely good example of what a slaughter artist at their most powerful and terrible is. Someone who's able to punch way way above their weight class due to their path, accumulated power and skill at murder. Enohel is also likely the peak a Truegold can get for their stats without insane elixirs.
Keras isn't going to be nearly as hard specialized as Enohel because they're also a Refiner, Healer, Botanist, Life Artist instead of hard focusing on combat and killing. Also I don't think that embracing the Slaughter Artist path is something Keras should do, Keras expressed a discomfort at the idea of being like Enohel and I think that Keras is to moral to become a Slaughter Artist. This means that Keras's growth as a Sacred Artist in advancement and stats will likely be a little slower but I'm perfectly okay with that.
I think that focusing on Keras's skills is the way to go. Narratively increasing Keras's combat training and experience, improving their techniques and becoming a better Refiner is what will set them appart. But that doesn't mean there isn't stuff Keras can't pick up from Enohel. Mainly increasing Keras's combat training and usage of death madra could do them a lot of good as a combatant. Keras even has the nice edge of being able to heal themselves which is very useful and something Enohel doesn't have and that balance is preferable to going all into damage since leaving weaknesses will screw you over as seen with Enohel having no solution to being crippled.
Of note is that our particular refiner specialty, rather than picking healing or advancement, was *weird stuff*. We can totally have Keras whip up combat drugs to boost them into incredibly dangerous territory for a brief time. We probably won't be able to give quite as much of a boost as Mercy's, "I pretend to be a full Lord level higher" Magic book nonsense, but I bet we can give Keras enough of a boost to casually punch up against randos an advancement up, even if it may not be enough to match the real prodigies. If we keep honing their combat edge like we have been, I bet we can do even better than that.
Edit: I could have sworn we voted for that at some point but I can't find it anywhere. Anyone remember better than me? :/
These options are categorized by degrees of sympathy for Risshon. He most likely sees himself as the good guy in this story, and the first option likely will let us sympathize the most with him.
The second option will more or less be the most objective one, since he has time to think about it and there is no immediate pressure.
The last option will most likely paint him as the bad guy. He will be preoccupied with fleeing, and thus not be receptive or be inclined to have any kind words for Keras.
Personally I'd like to see the first option the most, but I guess settling for the objective one will have to do.
"My daughter should have forced you to learn proper oracular methods" definitely sounds like Keras is about to be forced to learn proper oracular methods.
Of note is that our particular refiner specialty, rather than picking healing or advancement, was *weird stuff*. We can totally have Keras whip up combat drugs to boost them into incredibly dangerous territory for a brief time. We probably won't be able to give quite as much of a boost as Mercy's, "I pretend to be a full Lord level higher" Magic book nonsense, but I bet we can give Keras enough of a boost to casually punch up against randos an advancement up, even if it may not be enough to match the real prodigies. If we keep honing their combat edge like we have been, I bet we can do even better than that.
Edit: I could have sworn we voted for that at some point but I can't find it anywhere. Anyone remember better than me? :/
You remember correctly! That was part of the "what Remnant do you take to advance to Gold" vote, so the end of this update.
The example of what we've seen Keras do with that so far is helping Mireya by finding a strange way to look at her path and her own spirit and figuring out how to adapt the two.
You remember correctly! That was part of the "what Remnant do you take to advance to Gold" vote, so the end of this update.
The example of what we've seen Keras do with that so far is helping Mireya by finding a strange way to look at her path and her own spirit and figuring out how to adapt the two.
Hm, so the death bird was the one with the combat drugs, so we're not specially good at that like I'd thought we might be. Though I imagine we still *could* do something with it seeing how Keras has been making advancement resources just fine.
So, total sidetrack, but I'm kinda curious about that guy who handled the Destruction half of the treatment, Siddiq. Up until now our good friend Creepy Bald Assassin is the only contact Keras has had with Destruction-aspected Paths, and even then only recently. The assassin definitely doesn't seem like the type to represent an accurate baseline in that respect, though, and nor would whatever random Destruction-aspected Refining reagents Keras may have come across either since the differences between 'a type of Madra' and 'that same type of Madra being used as part of a Path' just got pointed out this chapter.
Anyways: It was mentioned that Destruction Paths weren't quite as uncommon in the city as Death ones, and it seems like the best person available for this task was a Highgold with no healing experience - still strong, but nobody that made the cut to Truegold. He's a Luxe, too, so there's decent but not certain odds that he also had Light as another part of his Path. In terms of thematics that could branch out from that combo... the easy answer's that he's specced towards throwing out kamehamehas, greatly enhancing the raw destructive power of the pseudolaser beams which Light paths generally get by default. Alternatively, maybe something like Scouring Light, drawing upon the phenomenon of a bright light doing stuff like killing germs or bleaching photographs or damaging eyesight? When adding Madra into the equation, Siddiq's name might end up being a pun pointing towards the result - abrading whatever the Light from his techniques touches like it's being eaten away by acid.
Bringing this back towards something at least approaching on-topic: I wonder if we'll end up working on a Luxe- and/or Serpent-sponsored commission (potentially alongside Siddiq or at least another Destruction artist for the other half of that puzzle?) meant to create a treatment for the effects of the assassin's lingering Technique without the direct presence of two rare types of Sacred Artist being necessary, since that's currently a pretty significant bottleneck. The assassin is still at large, after all; and between Remelyn+Farzana today, the victims of that elevator 'accident', and whoever else may have previously died of inexplicable injuries that people are only now getting context for, I could easily see it being considered a significant enough problem for someone to be proactive.
It'd do a lot to remove one of the bigger cards from the creep's hand in the likely event that they show up again - or anyone else on a similar Path, since that's something the people in charge have to consider given the inheritability of Cradle's superpowers. Now that officials know that there's a secret organization in play, it's an entirely valid worry that instead of just being a one-off this assassin could have been teaching students; or potentially even that the group's been hidden under everyone's noses for much longer than feared, and rather than being the originator of the Path Enohel themself could have had teachers that also need to be planned for.
No? Unless Vague has said something to the contrary, AFAIK we're operating off book canon for the Blackflame Empire characters until/unless it becomes obvious something has changed.
Worth noting this was just the first person they could get on short notice. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Brightflare Fire/Destruction user, for example, since Blackflame shows that is a really damn good path. But getting their cooperation might be a bit trickier and slower than grabbing one of the Luxe.
I suspected whoever we brought in would be hurt, and it looks like I was right.
On that note, I know Cheng is likely to be pissed that his two main assistants are liable to drag him out of his avoidance of politics, but I can see one upside.
With Farzana having proved her loyalty after Venkata came out of the assassination attempt smelling suspiciously clean (our bad), and with her being one of the earlier supporters of King Dakota, I can see the latter giving his support for Farzana to sponsor Cheng in his creation of Heaven's Facade.
She doesn't seem to be crippled, but if she's injured enough then advancing to Overlord might be the only way to fully recover, though with her already having an Underlord heir the throne could justify a different path.
Bringing this back towards something at least approaching on-topic: I wonder if we'll end up working on a Luxe- and/or Serpent-sponsored commission (potentially alongside Siddiq or at least another Destruction artist for the other half of that puzzle?) meant to create a treatment for the effects of the assassin's lingering Technique without the direct presence of two rare types of Sacred Artist being necessary, since that's currently a pretty significant bottleneck
It's not really less of a bottleneck, but my first thought was halfsilver needles, which could be inserted in the right place to 'lance' the affected areas.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Brightflare Fire/Destruction user, for example, since Blackflame shows that is a really damn good path. But getting their cooperation might be a bit trickier and slower than grabbing one of the Luxe.
It's not really less of a bottleneck, but my first thought was halfsilver needles, which could be inserted in the right place to 'lance' the affected areas.
Halfsilver would almost certainly work to take the place of Erusine's initial contribution - destroying the lingering Technique-clump itself - but yeah, there'd still need to be a way to deal with the Madra since that'd only break down its structure into still-deadly components rather than remove it entirely. Plus also a way to make up for whatever less-noticeable but still-critical effects happened in the treatment's background, with the Truegold Healer and Underlady both working to assist the process, since that's a whole 'nother type of bottleneck to worry about.
Maybe some kind of specially Life-infused 'heatsink' goop that presents a much easier path of resistance for the Madra to attack than the host that's fighting against it, both drawing out the Madra and bolstering the victim? Or using our esoteric specialty to trigger an artificial Impurity Purge like what happens when advancing to Iron and sometimes Jade, and ensuring that the foreign Madra gets caught up in it? Alternatively, if the LotNS wanted to create a method herself in response to the incident, Scripting would probably be able to handle inducing the movement of specific Madra types pretty solidly. Maybe some kind of combo using these or other methods?
I don't recall having said that. I might have, but I don't recall it. The closest I can recall is mentioning that the story of Rock the Cradle is Keras's story, and they will not fall into the background on meeting the canon protagonists. I could've used that as an example of how canon might be different even without Keras directly affecting it.
That said, we're still about four years before when Unsouled takes place (not counting the introduction where a very young Lindon tries to get a badge). Keras is about Lindon's age, maybe a few months younger, so the otherworldly invasion in book 1 takes place when both of them are about age 15. If Lindon doesn't survive, that's still in the future.
Of note is that our particular refiner specialty, rather than picking healing or advancement, was *weird stuff*. We can totally have Keras whip up combat drugs to boost them into incredibly dangerous territory for a brief time. We probably won't be able to give quite as much of a boost as Mercy's, "I pretend to be a full Lord level higher" Magic book nonsense, but I bet we can give Keras enough of a boost to casually punch up against randos an advancement up, even if it may not be enough to match the real prodigies. If we keep honing their combat edge like we have been, I bet we can do even better than that.
Edit: I could have sworn we voted for that at some point but I can't find it anywhere. Anyone remember better than me? :/
You remember correctly! That was part of the "what Remnant do you take to advance to Gold" vote, so the end of this update.
The example of what we've seen Keras do with that so far is helping Mireya by finding a strange way to look at her path and her own spirit and figuring out how to adapt the two.
[] The Remnant of a Luxe oracle known for insight
This dream-aspect Remnant will enhance your spiritual sense and its strange insights, allowing you to be closer to your mom. Although you may or may not add dream madra to your path, it will still take you to Gold, and it resonates with pills and elixirs with esoteric benefits.
Hm, so the death bird was the one with the combat drugs, so we're not specially good at that like I'd thought we might be. Though I imagine we still *could* do something with it seeing how Keras has been making advancement resources just fine.
Keras's speciality is esoteric refining because of the remnant they choose effecting that. Not to say they can't make combat drugs, advancement aids or healing, it's just that esoteric stuff is Keras's speciality and that matters. Though I'm curious what that esoteric speciality will be able to do because we didn't really get to see that kind of stuff a lot in Cradle canon.
These options are categorized by degrees of sympathy for Risshon. He most likely sees himself as the good guy in this story, and the first option likely will let us sympathize the most with him.
The second option will more or less be the most objective one, since he has time to think about it and there is no immediate pressure.
The last option will most likely paint him as the bad guy. He will be preoccupied with fleeing, and thus not be receptive or be inclined to have any kind words for Keras.
Personally I'd like to see the first option the most, but I guess settling for the objective one will have to do.
"My daughter should have forced you to learn proper oracular methods" definitely sounds like Keras is about to be forced to learn proper oracular methods.
It was mentioned that Keras isn't going to have as much control over their time in the future that's likely one of the consequences for choosing the Luxe action, having some of Keras's time eaten up by being forced to learn oracular methods. Now I'm totally okay with learning oracular methods because it's very interesting and a cool subject but it's still something that Keras won't be choosing fully.
So, total sidetrack, but I'm kinda curious about that guy who handled the Destruction half of the treatment, Siddiq. Up until now our good friend Creepy Bald Assassin is the only contact Keras has had with Destruction-aspected Paths, and even then only recently. The assassin definitely doesn't seem like the type to represent an accurate baseline in that respect, though, and nor would whatever random Destruction-aspected Refining reagents Keras may have come across either since the differences between 'a type of Madra' and 'that same type of Madra being used as part of a Path' just got pointed out this chapter.
Anyways: It was mentioned that Destruction Paths weren't quite as uncommon in the city as Death ones, and it seems like the best person available for this task was a Highgold with no healing experience - still strong, but nobody that made the cut to Truegold. He's a Luxe, too, so there's decent but not certain odds that he also had Light as another part of his Path. In terms of thematics that could branch out from that combo... the easy answer's that he's specced towards throwing out kamehamehas, greatly enhancing the raw destructive power of the pseudolaser beams which Light paths generally get by default. Alternatively, maybe something like Scouring Light, drawing upon the phenomenon of a bright light doing stuff like killing germs or bleaching photographs or damaging eyesight? When adding Madra into the equation, Siddiq's name might end up being a pun pointing towards the result - abrading whatever the Light from his techniques touches like it's being eaten away by acid.
Bringing this back towards something at least approaching on-topic: I wonder if we'll end up working on a Luxe- and/or Serpent-sponsored commission (potentially alongside Siddiq or at least another Destruction artist for the other half of that puzzle?) meant to create a treatment for the effects of the assassin's lingering Technique without the direct presence of two rare types of Sacred Artist being necessary, since that's currently a pretty significant bottleneck. The assassin is still at large, after all; and between Remelyn+Farzana today, the victims of that elevator 'accident', and whoever else may have previously died of inexplicable injuries that people are only now getting context for, I could easily see it being considered a significant enough problem for someone to be proactive.
It'd do a lot to remove one of the bigger cards from the creep's hand in the likely event that they show up again - or anyone else on a similar Path, since that's something the people in charge have to consider given the inheritability of Cradle's superpowers. Now that officials know that there's a secret organization in play, it's an entirely valid worry that instead of just being a one-off this assassin could have been teaching students; or potentially even that the group's been hidden under everyone's noses for much longer than feared, and rather than being the originator of the Path Enohel themself could have had teachers that also need to be planned for.
Siddiq seems to be a good example of a Destruction path user that's pretty normal, someone who's taken up that madra type for an edge in combat but that hasn't gotten to the point where they're truly exceptional as a Sacred Artist.
People being aware that the danger of the assassin is death - destruction while terrifying does make it easier to create countermeasures and treatments for it.
No? Unless Vague has said something to the contrary, AFAIK we're operating off book canon for the Blackflame Empire characters until/unless it becomes obvious something has changed.
Worth noting this was just the first person they could get on short notice. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Brightflare Fire/Destruction user, for example, since Blackflame shows that is a really damn good path. But getting their cooperation might be a bit trickier and slower than grabbing one of the Luxe.
I suspected whoever we brought in would be hurt, and it looks like I was right.
On that note, I know Cheng is likely to be pissed that his two main assistants are liable to drag him out of his avoidance of politics, but I can see one upside.
With Farzana having proved her loyalty after Venkata came out of the assassination attempt smelling suspiciously clean (our bad), and with her being one of the earlier supporters of King Dakota, I can see the latter giving his support for Farzana to sponsor Cheng in his creation of Heaven's Facade.
She doesn't seem to be crippled, but if she's injured enough then advancing to Overlord might be the only way to fully recover, though with her already having an Underlord heir the throne could justify a different path.
Cheng is going to be really pissed off at politics messing with his art, I think it may piss him off enough he may not give the King the second batch of Heaven's Facade because one of his Eyes is responsible for stuff, though Cheng may also be placed in hot water for having a conspirator work for him but it's pretty obvious he didn't have a clue because he doesn't keep track of that shit.
Farzana needing to proof her loyalty due to Keras saving her daughter is funny. I think that Farzana will likely mostly recover it's just that it'll take a long while and she'll likely suffer a bit in the mobility area due to being old and that effecting her leg even after being fully healed.
It's not really less of a bottleneck, but my first thought was halfsilver needles, which could be inserted in the right place to 'lance' the affected areas.
Halfsilver would almost certainly work to take the place of Erusine's initial contribution - destroying the lingering Technique-clump itself - but yeah, there'd still need to be a way to deal with the Madra since that'd only break down its structure into still-deadly components rather than remove it entirely. Plus also a way to make up for whatever less-noticeable but still-critical effects happened in the treatment's background, with the Truegold Healer and Underlady both working to assist the process, since that's a whole 'nother type of bottleneck to worry about.
Maybe some kind of specially Life-infused 'heatsink' goop that presents a much easier path of resistance for the Madra to attack than the host that's fighting against it, both drawing out the Madra and bolstering the victim? Or using our esoteric specialty to trigger an artificial Impurity Purge like what happens when advancing to Iron and sometimes Jade, and ensuring that the foreign Madra gets caught up in it? Alternatively, if the LotNS wanted to create a method herself in response to the incident, Scripting would probably be able to handle inducing the movement of specific Madra types pretty solidly. Maybe some kind of combo using these or other methods?
There was more methods to deal with the injury then what was used, it's just that the one that was used was choosen due to being the easiest and was likely the best for Farzana's health.
I don't recall having said that. I might have, but I don't recall it. The closest I can recall is mentioning that the story of Rock the Cradle is Keras's story, and they will not fall into the background on meeting the canon protagonists. I could've used that as an example of how canon might be different even without Keras directly affecting it.
That said, we're still about four years before when Unsouled takes place (not counting the introduction where a very young Lindon tries to get a badge). Keras is about Lindon's age, maybe a few months younger, so the otherworldly invasion in book 1 takes place when both of them are about age 15. If Lindon doesn't survive, that's still in the future.
This being Keras's story is something I'm totally in favor for, Keras is their own kind of protagonist that's very different from Lindon and Yerin and has their own path to walk. While Lindon and Yerin is heavily associated with the Abidan while not knowing it Keras is associated with the Vroshir with a vague awareness of it, Keras will also be getting a look at the more positive side of the Vroshir. It also feels like Keras is getting involved with people who don't mesh with he traditional mold in Cralde, Cheng and Risshon are perhaps the greatest examples both as a researcher and revolutionary respectively.
Keras is also someone who cares for stuff outside the Sacred Arts and combat a lot more then Lindon and Yerin do who've basically sacrificed their lives upon the alter of Sacred Arts for power. Keras makes friends and connections and learns from them and lifts them up while Lindon and Yerin hyperfocus on their own advancement. Lindon and Yerin are exemplars of Cradle's Sacred Artist culture while Keras subverts is and does things their own way. But they all share a similar greed and hunger that just manifests in different ways.
Keras is going to be doing their own thing at their own pace and that's totally okay. Keras fight now has multiple years before Unsouled takes place and has a lot of time to train their fundamentals and grow as a Sacred Artist and in their skills. It's very likely that by the time of the Uncrowned King tournament that Lindon and Yerin will be stronger then Keras but that's something I'm cool with because Keras can move at their own pace and Keras has stuff outside of combat and the Sacred Arts. For example Keras is a healer, refiner and someone who does a lot of good for people as well as Keras actively helping their freinds advance and looks after their community.
Though I'm hoping that Keras will be able to be a peer to Lindon and Yerin in terms of having whacky bullshit that lets them punch way above their weight class and get advancements. For now that's basically just focusing on raising Keras's stats and skills to be beyond their advancement level. In the future it'll likely mean something such as figuring out how to connect to certain Icons or making a Elixir to help out their advancement in the vein of Heaven's Facade.
It's very likely that by the time of the Uncrowned King tournament that Lindon and Yerin will be stronger then Keras but that's something I'm cool with because Keras can move at their own pace and Keras has stuff outside of combat and the Sacred Arts.
Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if we end up at the Uncrowned tourney.
Keras is currently taking things at their own pace, but we know that soon they'll be forced to radically adapt to political upheaval when the assassination attempt happens followed by the disaster that is the Dreadgod. And we know from a very early vision from their mother that Keras at least has the potential to make the tournament, since a possible future was her dueling against an Akura in the Uncrowned Arena
In this shard, you exchange a series of blows with a woman your age. She is full-figured but delicate of features, and her purple eyes flash with shadows that match her curved saber. Your straight sword is just handled with equal dexterity to hers, and dozens of blows pass in an instant, a clash of impossible speed and power. The training room around the two of you suffers slashes and gouges as missed force and dodged Striker techniques pepper it. As it becomes clear you two are evenly matched, the blows slacken... and then, with sudden urgency, both of you drop weapons and she leans in for a passionate kiss even as your arms go around her...
Forgot to actually vote:
[X] After the arrest
This prevents Keras from having to avoid Cheng, and gives them a deeper look into why someone they looked up to is part of the conspiracy.
Plus I kinda want him to escape, should be fun if we ever meet up with him later.
